Craig and Adam also picked up their own special set of d20 die from Games of Berkeley. They both chose different brilliant shades of blue, which are both beautiful.

For those of you who were not able to join us last night (and don’t have a d20 dice set of your own yet) I recommend one of two things:

1. Walk into your local gaming store (for those in Berkeley that’s either Eudemonia or Games of Berkeley, in the south Bay it’s Versus Games or Heretic Games) and tell them you’re a new D20 player looking for a starter set of 7 dice. Then pick out which one looks good to you!

2. Go to this Amazon link and choose whatever color suits your fancy! No need to get super elite with your first set of die. Stick to the 7 die set “Chessex” brands and keep under $10 dollars. Amazon Link for Dice

I wanted to reveal this on the first night we actually did a game, but for everyone in the group I’m currently crafting a set of dice towers that can be used to both store dice and to ensure a fair, accurate roll without going all over the table. What is a dice tower? These are dice towers!

Mini Selection

After buying dice, Adam and Craig began perusing the mini figure section in the back to try and find something that spoke to them. Games of Berkeley’s selection is very heavily tilted towards fantasy style play and ultra futuristic settings, so the pickings we slim.
Craig and Adam weren’t successful in their search for minis last night, but that’s ok!

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, minis refer to the tiny little figurines usually made of metal or plastic that represent characters on the game map. This is important because some game rules depend on locating your character in 3D space (line of sight rules for firing guns or distance limits for area-of-effect spells or items such as healing potions just to name two). Our game map will be on top of a table and will typically be drawn or projected onto a white board. Thus for our purposes minis are essential.

Minis are a necessary thing for our campaign, but they don’t have to take the traditional form of a pewter figure if that doesn’t work for you. Are you an artist? Sweet! Draw your character’s face and let’s make a little token out of it! Have access to a 3D printer? Design something in CAD (or download it off the internet) and print it up! The mini should something that you think represents the qualities of the character you want to play. It can be beautifully painted, with complex shading patterns. Or it can be a white dot with your character’s name hastily scrawled on it. Doesn’t matter!

Ps: I have access to the machines and materials to make both buttons and 3D prints, should anyone want to do either of those things. If you’d like to paint a traditional figure, I don’t mind loaning out my brushes, paint, and tools! I also have a few figures available, but they are extremely limited in selection and lean heavily towards steampunk scifi.

It is important to note that your mini doesn’t necessary have to be a perfect representation of your character exactly as they are in the game world. After all, the game world exists in the collective imaginations of all of us! This means if you find a fantasy figure that just looks SO COOL and really does speak to you as being “your” mini, there is no reason you can’t use it even if your modern character doesn’t typically carry around a sword. GMs have been using zombie tokens to stand in for kobolds and horse drawn battle wagons to be cars for decades, so you’re not breaking any weird rule by using a figure not how it was intended.

If you’re interested in buying a figure, I’d try to stick to ones in the 28mm range, as ones that are too big or too small will look strange compared to the surrounding structures.

DO NOTSPENDTONS OF MONEY ON A MINI. Keep it under 10 bucks if possible. Seriously, it’s not worth it unless you go on to become a game master and then start storing all of your minis in a special case with packed foam that lives in your closet….

3D Printable Designs – Note: I can print these for you for free
http://rpg.brentnewhall.com/2014/05/open-licensed-designs-for-minis-you-can-3d-print/
http://makezine.com/2015/11/17/how-to-design-and-3d-print-your-own-custom-gaming-miniatures/
http://makezine.com/projects/how-to-design-custom-game-tokens-with-openscad/